Job 55
by ThomThom
Summary: Willow is in the center of a plan that she's unaware of, and Kennedy is the one carrying out the plan...
1. Chapter 1

Hey, this is a story I've got going on another site, so I just thought I'd bring it over here, since I deleted all my other ones from this site. I hope that you guys enjoy it, it's very different from my any other story that I've written. Oh, and I'm posting the first few chapters, so if you like this first chapter, go on to the next, 'cause it's there. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think. -*ThomThom*

P.S. for those of you who are used to my more detailed, in-depth writing, you will notice that this chapter is not written that way…it will, however, get more and more in-depth as I go on, and give more information. For now, the story is pretty simple, in terms of writing, and plot.

Chapter One: Day One (The New Job)

Kennedy got out of her car, taking a deep breath as she looked up at the academy. It was bigger than she had expected it to be, 'The picture made it look pretty small,' she thought, staring at the large brick building. She counted three floors, and one side wing--More room meant more people, and apparently some of the students stayed on campus, which meant she wasn't seeing the whole ground, but she didn't have time to walk around it to calculate anything, not without looking suspicious anyways. An inside tour would have to do. She looked over the top of her car, expecting to see someone standing there, but saw no one, and frowned.

"Lara," she called, bending down to look in the car. In the passenger seat, with headphones in her ears, and her eyes closed, was Lara--her half sister who annoyed the shit out of her, at all times, "Lara!" she yelled, making the girl jump, "Get the fuck out of the car," though in some ways she did love the girl, there was just something about here that always got under her skin--Maybe it was because she had a habit of popping up at her apartment at the worse times; borrowing her car without asking; going through her things…there were many reasons, and at the moment another one was being added to the list.

"Okay, Christ," she said, rolling her eyes, as she got out of the car, "I didn't know we were here," looking at the academy, she frowned, "Where ever here is--Does that say academy? Why--Why are we here?" she asked, as she pulled her long brown hair up into a ponytail. She grabbed her tote bag out of the car, putting the strap across her. Seeing that Kennedy had called her out of nowhere, she had been unable to really get completely ready. She had grabbed the pair of pants closest to her bed, which were the type of pants that were new, but looked worn and torn, black flip flops, a navy blue shirt that had 'mathletes' in white thick letters across it, and she had on her glasses, because she hadn't had time to put in her contacts, "I've never heard of this place," she said, closing the door, "Is it new?"

"It's sort of new," Kennedy answered, as she stood and waited for her sister to close the car door, which only happened after she sent a look in the teenager's direction, "I'm going to enroll you," she said, as she began to walk across the lawn. Looking over at her sister, she frowned, "Are those my pants?"

"No, these are not your pants. I'm too tall to fit into your pants, now, which I've been trying to tell you forever. It's Daphne that is--Wait," she stopped walking, "You can't just enroll me in a school," she laughed, slightly, "…I have a school already, so why would you enroll me, here? Am I in trouble? What am I saying? I don't get in trouble, that's your job."

"Depends on your definition of trouble," she continued to walk, knowing that her sister would eventually begin to follow, again, "And what's with that shirt? I swear we're not related."

"What's wrong with my shirt? I love this shirt. I am a proud member of the mathletes" after a moment, she started to walk again; quickly to catch up with her sister, "Kenn, you can't just call me and bring me to some random school, saying--I'm going to enroll you. Unless…is this part of a job?"

This time it was her who stopped, "What job? I don't have a job."

"Right, you just randomly pop up with wads of cash that doesn't come from your bank account," she laughed, sarcastically, "Because that's believable. And before you say anything--Yes, I still keep track of your bank account."

"Which is a complete invasion of privacy, by the way," she pointed out, "Just do this without asking questions, okay? It's not like I wouldn't have gotten someone else to come along, if I would have had the option--"

"Oh, I really want to do whatever it is you want me to do now," she huffed.

Kennedy shook her head, in frustration, "Okay, fine. You do this for me, and I'll buy you that computer you want. The one that no one as smart as you should ever have, because you already know how to break into people's bank accounts, along with so many other things it's unbelievable."

Lara gave her sister a sideways look, and then nodded, "Deal," Kennedy turned and began to walk again, so she followed, wondering what exactly she had just signed up for, "So, what exactly are we doing, here? Is this a--"

"No, don't ask questions, especially not out in the open like this," she said, sighing, "I have no job, okay? We're just checking out something that I'm a bit curious about. Leave it at that, or I won't buy you anything."

"I'm leaving it…" she paused, "for now."

When they reached the academy doors, Kennedy turned to Lara, who almost bumped into her, "Look dweeb, when we get in here, you have to stay cool--I know that's a hard concept for you, but you're going to have to try."

"Now, when you say cool, do you mean be a complete asshole, like you?" she asked.

"You're so funny--Seriously, don't get all weird, and don't do that thing that you do, where you talk fifty miles an hour, and ask ten thousand questions--"

"That's a specific number," she interrupted. Kenney gave her a look, "Okay, no more smart remarks either, I'm guessing."

"That would be helpful," someone walked out of the doors, so they moved aside, both putting on fake smiles, as the people walked by. Once they were far enough away for her liking, Kennedy looked back at Lara, "All you have to do is say that you've been having odd bursts of strength, speed, and can sometimes hear a needle drop in a crowded room."

She frowned, "Why would a needle drop in a crowded room?"

"Jesus Christ," she looked up, "This was a mistake. Brining you of all people was a huge mistake--I should have brought Daphne. She owes me five hundred bucks right now, so I'm sure she would have just said yes to whatever, and not asked any questions."

"That was kind of redundant, if you think about it--Say yes to whatever…not ask any questions…Plus, Daphne's your age, so--I'm done," she said, noticing her sister's rising frustration, "Odd bursts of strength, speed, and hearing needles drop in random crowds…got it."

"I'm serious, Lara--Think of that computer you want before you let anything slip," they stood there for a moment, staring each other straight in the eyes, and then went inside. The inside made the building look even larger. It definitely looked like a private school; more grandeur and expensive looking than any public school out there, except for the obvious lack of a dress code, which was evident by someone walking by in a bikini. This area, she could see, was the actual schooling area, not the dorms, because there were lockers in the hallways to the left and right, "I hope this isn't the only area we'll get to see, " she mumbled.

Lara leaned closer to her sister, "It's probably not a good idea to mumble things, if I can hear needles drop in a crowd," she laughed. When Kennedy shot her yet another look, she stood up straight, "So, is there someone that we'll be talking to? Do we have an appointment, or--"

"Nope, we're just a walk-in," she answered.

"That's weird, and strangely unprofessional of you," she said, while leaning a bit to look down one of the halls. It was smaller than her boarding school, she could see that right away, but it somehow looked more expensive, and yet…homey in a way. There was an air within it that just felt more welcoming than the snobbish school she attended.

"Which is fine, considering the fact that I don't have a job," she emphasized, "Plus, it said that walk-ins were fine on the website--Though, the website was a bit modest. Who knows what we should really be expecting. I don't get why they don't just put actual information on the damn site when we could just walk in and talk to someone anyways, probably only to get more information than needed."

"That depends on who you talk to," someone said, walking up behind the two of them.

Kennedy, along with Lara, turned around to see who had spoke, both of them raising their eyebrow slightly, once they did. In front of them stood a woman with brown hair, and brown eyes, wearing black sweat pants, and a white tank top. She was sweating, which told them that she had just come from doing some kind of exercise--Not that that mattered, really.

Lara swallowed hard, "I'm enrolling here," she blurted, "To this academy."

"Who's being redundant, now?" Kennedy asked, with a smirk. She looked back to the woman who had approached them, "I'm guessing that you could help us with this whole enrolling thing. Maybe point us in the direction of someone who works here."

"I work here," she folded her arms.

"Oh," Kennedy said, looking the woman over, again. Of course, she knew the woman worked there--Actually she knew exactly why the woman was there, and how long she would actually be there, but…at the moment, that could not be shown, "So, you can help us, then."

Seeing something slightly different in how her sister was speaking, Lara turned her head slightly. She had a feeling that Kennedy wasn't saying all that she knew, which was nothing new really, but it was important to her, because the more of a difference in Kennedy's behavior, the more likely it was that they were close to whoever, or whatever, Kennedy was looking for. At the moment, she could tell, they were getting closer, but the woman in front of them was not the target in the back of her sister's mind, "What my sister is asking is whether you can actually help me enroll to the school."

"I got that," the woman said, "I just thought, seeing that your sister here was assuming that I don't work here, that I'd let her know that I do work here. Actually, I was going to ask a question next--Why would you think I don't work here? I've been getting that a lot lately, so I'm just wondering."

"Honestly," Kennedy said, folding her arms, just as the woman had, "you're too attractive to work here."

"Kennedy," Lara glared.

The woman laughed, and then turned her head towards some stairs a little ways off, "That makes twenty," she said, loudly. She stood for a moment, just staring at the stairs, until she heard the sounds of steps being taken, "How many you got, Dawn?"

"Fifteen," she answered, approaching the three of them, "I think you're cheating though--Look at you, you're all sweaty, and stuff, while the rest of us stick with our normal attire of slacks and dress shirt, while working. You know, at least something mildly professional. Buffy will point that out," she looked over at the two visitors, "You're looking to enroll, right? Faith here cannot help you with that, but I can take you to someone who can, if you'd like."

Kennedy noticed that Lara was about to say something, so she opened her mouth to speak, before the girl could change her plans, "Actually, I was wondering if we could get some more information about the school first. Maybe a tour--"

"Sorry, we're kind of a private private school," Dawn said, with a slight nod, "You'll actually have to talk to someone before you get the tour, 'cause you kind of have to be excepted in, after taking some tests."

"Tests are my area of expertise," Lara laughed, "Just hand me a number two pencil, and I'm there."

"That's great, kid, but, uh, that ain't the kind of test we're talking about," Faith said, with questioning eyes.

"Of course not," Kennedy said, nudging her sister a little.

Lara was confused at first, then she remembered what she had been told, "Oh, you mean tests to test for bursts of strength, speed, and hearing a needle drop in a crowd."

Dawn frowned, "Why would a needle drop in a crowd?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Lara answered, "I've been wondering about that myself, actually."

Impatient with the whole conversation, and situation, Kennedy cleared her throat, "Okay, so who would we talk to in order to have these tests preformed?"

"I think Red is on that, right?" Faith asked, turning to Dawn, "Or is it B?"

Dawn thought for a moment, "Actually, you'll have to come back at a later time, because both of them are in the middle of something at the moment. Sorry," she said, giving a sympathetic smile, "There's just a lot going on right now, so the walk-ins list that's not supposed to be a list, has turned into a list, and are now being put in the more appointment catagory. If you would just leave your name, and number, we could maybe--"

"No," Kennedy blurted. She kicked herself mentally, and then smiled, "I'm never usually available, and my sister here goes to a boarding school where they're really weird about phones, so we'll just try again another day."

"Actually," Lara said, reaching in her bag, and pulling out a card, "I think I'll be able to sneak some time in on my cell phone. There's a time on there to let people know when I'm actually able to answer the phone, so if you guys could call it then, I'll definitely be able to answer, and set up an appointment," she looked over at Kennedy, who was keeping herself calm, but not calm enough to where she herself couldn't tell that underneath that smile was a death stare, "Just let me know, and we'll come back," she added, giving the card to Dawn.

"Okay…" Dawn said, oddly--It wasn't everyday that a teenager gave a professional card to her--In fact it had never happened before, and if anyone should have been giving out a card, it should have been her or Faith, giving a card to talk to someone about getting enrolled, "I'll pass this on."

"Thanks. Come on, sis, I gotta get back to the school--It was nice meeting you both," she shook both of their hands, and then turned to leave, not stopping to wait for Kennedy to also shake their hands, as she did. All the way to the car, Kennedy walked behind her, not saying a word, which only told her one thing--When they got to the car, she was going to get an earful.

And, she was right. As soon as they got in the car, Kennedy broke her silence, "Have you lost your fucking mind? You just gave them your name, number, finger prints…God, you mind as well of just completely given them your social security number, your account number, your house key--"

"I get it," she said, putting her hands up. Then, she started to smile, "But, really…I didn't give them anything," Kennedy looked at her, confused, which she had expected, "The number I gave was a number to a pay phone on fifth that I use when someone wants to talk to me about breaking into someone's system--I guess I'll get there earlier today--and the name on the card is a code name, both of which I change weekly…meaning in seven days--"

"Neither one will lead them to you. But, since you gave them fingerprints--"

"Actually, I got rid of those a long time ago. After I broke into that company and completely wiped out there bank account, and sent the money to that country they stole it from--which is doing very well now, by the way--it was kind of necessary to make sure that I never left a trace of myself behind from that point on."

Kennedy huffed, and turned to start the car, with a smile on her face, "I don't even know what to say to that."

Lara buckled her seatbelt, and looked back towards the school, "Tell me that you'll finally let me become your right hand man--woman really. Like an assistant who's smarter, and wiser."

"Having an assistant would suggest that I have a job, which I don't," she put the car into reverse, and backed out of the space, taking note of different license plates; looking for one in particular to see if she had been lied to. Lucky for the two that she had talked to--Faith and Dawn--she hadn't been lied to.

"You can't keep acting like I don't know what you do," Lara said, knowing exactly what her sister was doing, "Now, is this a killing thing, or a protecting thing? And who is it that you came here to find, because I know it wasn't either one of them--was it one of the appointment people?"

"Lara," she said, flatly, "stop asking questions," after a moment, she spoke again, "By the way…you're not smarter than me."

The younger of the two laughed, and then looked to her sister, who was completely serious, which made something click in her head, "Oh my god, other than my whole card thing, you totally planned that whole thing, didn't you? Wait, no…'cause then you would have known who was and wasn't there…unless the information you got was wrong, which would mean that whoever hired you--"

"I don't have a job!"

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Sitting on the couch, with her laptop in her lap, Kennedy was once again going through the files on the disk she had been sent. It was the tenth time she had gone over them in the course of two hours, and yet she still felt that she didn't have them memorized enough. The information she had been given was all that she needed, really. She had been given a name, an address, photo, schedule--all kinds of things to let her know who, where, and when, but for some reason, it wasn't all sticking the way she wanted it to. Any more information would have been too much. Knowing personal things about them would only 'cause some complication in the end, and she definitely didn't want that at all, but there was still something about it. Perhaps it was the fact that it had been such a long time since she had been put on something, and so she was rusty. That was the only thing she could really think of, and it sort of made sense.

She picked up the medium sized yellow envelope beside her, and pulled out the photo once again, looking at it intently--All she saw was green eyes, red hair, and pale skin. Nothing less, and nothing more. A face that needed no name, or meaning. Just a face…just a body.

Hearing keys in the door, she put the picture back in the envelope, exited out of everything on her computer, put the disk in the envelope, and then put the envelope in her bag, that was on the floor beside the couch. She knew, since keys were being used, that it was either her sister, or her roommate, and there was no way she was going to risk it being Lara. Her roommate, who, after a moment, she knew it was--because only her roommate couldn't figure out how to unlock the door quickly--had stopped asking questions a couple years back. Actually, it was on Kennedy's twenty first birthday that she had stopped asking, because Kennedy had left in the middle of getting a lap dance, after answering her cell phone.

'If you're willing to just get up in leave when a sex goddess is straddling you, then I don't want to know what you do for a living,' was exactly what Daphne, her roommate, had said, and she had not objected to it at all.

"Christ," Daphne said, finally able to get the door open, "why can't we just get the fucking lock changed?" she groaned, as she struggled with some bags she was holding. Her dirty blonde hair was a slight mess, and her green eyes were full of frustration, as she tried her best to hold on to the keys, and the bags at the same time.

Kennedy got up to help, laughing slightly as she did, "Because we don't own the fucking building," she answered, despite the fact that she knew it was a rhetorical question, "What's with all the food? Did I forget someone's birthday, again?"

"Nope, I just went to get food, because…oh, I don't know," she pretended to think, "maybe because we don't have any, which you would notice if you'd stop ordering pizza and Chinese food, for once."

"But that's why I order in. Why go by all this food that will probably go bad, when you can just order all that you'll know you'll eat, and never have to clean out the refrigerator, or deal with those fruit fly things?"

"Because it's healthier," she plopped all the bags in her hands onto the kitchen counter, and began to put all the food up, "And, because your sister has a habit of showing up at three in the morning hungry, when all the places you order from are closed. This way, she'll have something to eat."

Kennedy rolled her eyes, "Let her starve."

"I know you only say those things because you love her," Daphne smiled, "It's your weird way of showing it. Now what's this about you trying to enroll her at some random school, this morning?" she asked, "I really hadn't expected that call."

"She told you about that?" the question, though asked, was one that she wasn't sure of why she asked. Of course Lara told Daphne about it, it was her way of doing things.

"Yeah," she kneeled down to put some things at the bottom of the refrigerator, "But I think it was just to send you some kind of message that I'll never understand, and definitely won't ask about."

"Which is why I love you, and why you're my best friend," she smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. She said something about the school calling, too, which she said she would tell you about personally if you would answer her phone calls, or if she could get off school grounds. Apparently, you got her back too late, and she missed a class for the forth time this month. It didn't fly with the boarding school. She's on some kind of punishment for a the rest of the week."

"Please, no one could keep Lara where she didn't want to be, even if they tried. She always finds a way to get out, and end up here at three in the morning, wanting to sleep on the couch. Back to what she would tell me if she could get a hold of me," she said, directing the conversation back to what she wanted to hear.

"Right. Whoever called her said something about a get together that's happening tomorrow night for the older attendants, which she would be considered as, since she's graduating this year. It's for eighteen and up…I'm guessing she told them that she's already eighteen, though she has a few more days before that happens. Anyways, the get together, she said, sounds more like a party, 'cause it's at a club, but the enrollment people will be there, and so she thought she'd let you know, so you could go, and maybe take her along."

Kennedy smiled inwardly, "Did she say who called her back?"

"Someone named Andrew, I think. She said that he kind of got nervous after realizing that he was making the school sound like a party school, and said to forget that he even mentioned the monthly outing, which he then also told her to forget. He was just a fill in for the person who was really supposed to call, but was too busy to call."

"Gosh, I have to say that I love your excellent memory more and more these days. Did she happen to mention if this guy was actually useful enough to set her up an appointment?"

Daphne thought for a moment, "Actually yeah…ten days from now, at ten a.m." she frowned, "That's the day before you leave the country for a month, isn't it?"

She smiled, "Exactly."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Lara jogged across the street, holding the strap of her a bag, as she made her way to a café, where she saw Kennedy sitting at a table outside, sipping on whatever it was she was drinking. She had not expected to get a phone call from her sister, especially since they had seen each other that morning, so when she got a call from her saying to meet her somewhere, she left as quickly as possible, forgetting all about the fact that she was not supposed to leave--Not that that mattered.

"Hey," she said, as she sat down, "What's up?"

Kennedy sighed, "Did you really have to wear another mathlete shirt?" she asked, staring at the yellow shirt, with black letters, "And it's yellow. Could you make us stand out any more than you are right now? I think not."

"Oh, my god, we're on recon, aren't we?" she asked, excitedly, "I can't believe that you're letting me be here right now. This is so great. What do I do?" she slouched in her chair a little, "I should look relaxed, right? Like I'm just some normal kid with her normal sister out getting some kind of caffeine, and maybe a sandwich, if you'd buy me one."

"First, I'm not buying you a sandwich, you have your own money, buy it yourself. Second, don't slouch you look like a bum when you slouch," Lara sat up immediately, which let her continue her list, "Third, this is not 'recon', and we are just normal sisters hanging out. So stop acting like the freak of nature you are, and relax. Take a deep breath," the girl did as she said, "Take out something to read, or something like that, 'cause I brought my laptop, and I'm about to completely ignore you."

Lara frowned, "What? I'm confused. Is this a real outing?" she found herself meeting Kennedy's angry face, so she reached into her bag and pulled out a book, "You're in luck, I've got a book report due soon, which requires me to read at least the first twelve pages of this book."

"Lucky me," Kennedy mumbled.

She looked at her book, as Kennedy pulled out her laptop, not really reading it, but trying her best to fight the urge within her. Sadly, she was unable to control herself. Still glanced up from the book at her sister, "Daphne gave you my message, right? And this is just another step? One that is probably bigger than the first one."

"Quit Lara, or I swear I'll make you go back to that school," she noticed someone within the café, distracting her from the threat she had not completed, "Okay, ten one o'clock, inside the café is our reason for being here--don't turn to look," she added, when her sister started to turn in her chair, "If you look, it will only make things difficult."

"I knew it. I knew it," she smiled, looking back towards her book, "Finally, you've let me in. You've realized just how genius I am, and how much I can help, and here we are--Sisters with the same task…the same job…and don't start with the whole 'I don't have a job' thing."

"Fine, I have a job--Key word being I, meaning not you. You're only here, because I didn't have time to find someone else to take to that school in such short notice. You're my one and only option here, Lara, so please try not to go all crazy with excitement."

"No excitement. Check," she paused, "Which one is here, Faith or Dawn?"

"Dawn, and two you haven't met," she answered. She noticed a certain smile appear on her sister's face, and rolled her eyes, "Are you serious? Aren't you going out with that one guy, what's his name?"

"Graham is his name, and yes, I am going out with him. That doesn't mean I can't take a good look at the great view," she smiled.

"How are you not single, when you say stuff like that?" Kennedy asked, "Plus…she's too old for you."

"Four years max--Let's not talk about your older women experiences. You've had crushes on older women before. Besides, I'm only looking, there's no harm in that," she said, raising her brows.

Kennedy smiled, "Well well, we might be related after all," she looked back to her laptop, "Okay, here comes your crush, try not to drool, she's in some shorts now that are a little small--along with the shirt she's wearing."

"Really? I was into the more professional look. Oh, well. That's what I have Graham for," she shrugged.

"You're the ones from the school earlier, right?" Dawn asked, approaching the table, "We met earlier, when I wasn't looking a little underdressed. My name's Dawn," she added, seeing that neither one of them were really seeming to respond, which kind of hurt her ego a little.

"Right, sorry," Kennedy said, closing her laptop, "We've had such a busy day, it just totally slipped my mind," she looked over to Lara, who was still staring at her book, and kicked her underneath the table, "We've been unpacking my things all day, so we're both pretty tired….since I picked her up right when she was done with her classes, and dragged her to help me. Definitely tired."

Lara reached down, subtly, and rubbed her leg, "Exhausted, really."

"I get that. My family and I just really settled in here a couple of months back, and it's only temporary, so we're dreading having to move everything again--We're just fill ins at this branch of the school, while the other's are on vacation," she nodded, "Not sure why I just told you all that--I'll blame it on my long day. Please tell me that someone got back to you, already. We're trying to do this whole same day thing, now."

"Well it seems to be working out then, though it was a little earlier than I had expected. I'm still not used to my school here, so it was a bit of a problem."

Dawn gave an small smile, "Sorry, I was hoping that your phone would be off, and so Andrew would just leave you a message, and not actually have to talk to you, but I guess that didn't work out, which is funny, because he told me that he left a message."

"Nope, there was an actual conversation involved," Lara nodded, "He mentioned something about parties for the older attendants," she felt another kick underneath the table, much harder than the first one.

"He wasn't supposed to mention that, but it figures that he did," she paused, "Do you mind if I sit down?" she asked.

"No, not at all," Kennedy answered.

"The school does have monthly things for each age group that's there, just because breaks are always good for students, and we all need a break every once in a while. It's at this club on the other side of town, and you can't get in unless you know this password, which I'm going to give you, even though I'm not supposed to. I mean, you guys seem pretty cool, and it'll be good for--" she looked towards the younger of the two, "I'm sorry, what's your name, again? I read the card, but--"

"Dean," Lara answered, "That's what I go by at least."

Kennedy held herself from laughing, as she looked at her sister as if there was a sign with the word 'stupid' on her forehead, but changed her expression when Dawn looked back at her. She didn't want to make it obvious that no one actually called her sister Dean, so she had to go back to a more normal expression.

"Anyways, I think it would be good for Dean to meet some of the other girls anyways, just to make sure that it's actually where she wants to be, because we know that some of them out there would rather just continue living a normal life. We always try to let the new ones get a feel for some of it first, and so I think you two should come, if you can. The password is Sunnydale for this month," she said, rising from the chair, "I hope you can make it."

"Me too," Lara responded. Once the girl had walked off, she looked to her sister, "That went well, don't you think?"

"Hold on," Kennedy said, as she continued to watch Dawn walk inside. She noticed that while she had not been paying attention, Faith had entered the café, joining the blonde, and of course--the redhead. That's who she had come to see. The getting invited was only a chance; something she wanted, but wasn't exactly sure of, "Fifty-five."

Lara frowned, "What?" she turned to see who Kennedy was looking at, and landed on a redhead, who looked in their direction, after Dawn said a few words to her, which prompt them to wave to each other--since they were all looking at each other, "That's her, isn't it--That's--"

"Fifty-five. Don't stare," she said, getting Lara to turn around. After opening her laptop back up, she laughed slightly, "Dean, really? What the hell is up with that?"

"It's the code name on the card, I had no choice but to tell her that, since they have a card. Get over it, and be glad that it's not Trixie, 'cause that's what it was last week. Which do you prefer, a guy name, or a hooker name?"

She laughed, again, "Dean it is."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Willow stood staking the books on top of the desk at the head of the empty classroom, wondering if her lesson had been clear to all of the girls in the class. It was a simple lesson really, but a few of them had seemed to give her questioning looks throughout the whole thing, so she wasn't sure. Really, as she put the final book on top of the stack, she realized exactly why the girls seemed to be in a different realm--It was that time of the month. Not that time…but the time that it was the upper-class outing. That, though slightly frustrating, was a relief.

"I'm still a good teacher," she said, aloud.

"Were you having trouble keeping the girls' attention today, too?" Buffy asked, as she walked in.

She gave a slight smile, "You could say that."

"Well, at least you probably didn't have someone completely get knocked out during your class, because they weren't paying attention during a sparing session--That was an interesting lesson for her, if I say so myself; actually look at who you're fighting," she laughed.

"Hmm, I've never heard that before," she reached down to grab her bag out of her chair, and then looked back to her best friend, who was looking at some of the labels on the book, "Protection spell day…It turned into more of a destructive spell thing really. Really glad that I had them write out the ingredients before actually giving them the ingredients--One girl would have blown up the whole school."

Buffy's eyes went wide, "Which definitely would have been bad. Maybe you should have them stick to floating pencils."

"Yeah, I thought about that, but when Stacy almost took out Lillian's eye the other day--Let's just say I reconsidered it," she sighed, "Maybe I'm just going to have to be more selective of who exactly can take my type of class. Like, they have to pass a basic test or something. Kind of like the one to get into the school, except harder, and more detailed, because lifting something really heavy, and running two miles in whatever time really wouldn't help me choose anyone."

"Definitely not," the blonde agreed, "I just think that each month we have to be a little bit more cautious with our lesson plans of the day. Sure, the girls should be able to focus on what they're doing, and then get excited about whatever is happening later, but they're young, you know? That happens."

The redhead frowned, "That didn't happen to me."

"You were an abnormal teenager," Buffy smiled.

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you," she spotted Dawn walking towards the classroom, and raised her brows at what the girl was wearing, "I get that Dawn only has to work for about an hour during the morning sessions, but I was surprised at the outfit that she wore to the café today, and that she's still wearing."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "I think it's all the time she's been hanging around with Faith--Giving them a joint class type thing was such a mistake."

"Hey, guys," Dawn said, as she approached them, "What are we talking about?"

"You actually, and your lack of actual clothing," Buffy answered, gesturing towards her younger sister.

Dawn looked at he clothes, "Well, I know that they're a little short, but these are my work out clothes, and before we went to the café I worked out a little. Then, when we got back, Faith wanted me to run through this routine with her, that I totally couldn't make it through. Oh, by the way," she looked directly at her sister, "We've got thirty-five. How many do you have?"

Willow shook her head, "I can't believe that you guys are really doing that."

"I have to prove my point here, Will," Buffy explained, "I've got twenty, but you guys are totally cheating. No one can help but stare when both of you are scanking it up in the hallways."

Faith walked in laughing, "Oh, please. Just admit that not everyone is as close minded as you are--Or pretend to be, really. You've got to admit that most of the girl's here have at least made out with one other girl here, or when we've gone out somewhere. I mean, come on."

"I for one have never made out with a girl, and I do believe that I am, not only a slayer, but the slayer, as in--"

"Yeah yeah, we've heard all that before," Faith said, cutting the other slayer off, "Let's not mention all of Red's students who are always too busy checkin' her out instead of paying attention. Like that Stacy chick with the pencil."

"What?" Willow questioned, "That had nothing to do with me--My students do not check me out. I am their teacher. They respect me, and appreciate the smartness that is me."

Buffy shrugged, "Actually…I did find this note once, that I guess had been dropped--"

"No. I don't want to hear about it," she said, shaking her head.

"It's no big deal," Faith said, nonchalantly, "Lots of my girls check me out all the time."

"Wonder why?" the blonde asked, sarcastically.

Willow looked at all of them, wondering just how they had all gotten to that point, "So, is there a reason why we're all having this get together in my class?"

"I was just dropping by to make sure that you're coming tonight," Buffy answered, "Last time you didn't come and I had to deal with the girls all on my own, because Faith here is pretty useless in that situation, and Dawn was nowhere to be seen,," Faith laughed, getting Buffy's attention, "What?" the blonde questions.

"Nothin'," the brunette answered, "Anyways, I was just walking by and happened to overhear what was bein' said. I didn't really want anything. But, you are comin', Red."

"Why do I have to come?" the redhead asked, unsure of why she was really needed. It wasn't that she didn't want to hang out with her friends, she was just tired. It had been a long week, and she was ready to just lay down in her bed, and watch a few movies, instead of going out to some loud club.

"To get to know our walk-ins," Dawn answered, "Dean and her sister…the one you had a habit of looking over at today, when we were out getting mochas."

"I was just looking out the window. Taking in the view of the busy street outside."

"Please, you were practically drooling," Faith said, rolling her eyes, "It's all that bent up stuff you got. I mean it's been how long since you've gotten laid?"

Buffy smiled, "I could ask you the same question, Faith."

"You could, but you won't," Willow picked up her checked to make sure she had everything one last time, and then started to walk around the group in front of her, "You guys have fun."

Dawn stepped in front of the redhead, "She was looking at you, too."

Willow looked over at Faith, and Buffy, who were both nodding in agreement. For a moment, she thought about it--noting the fact that it had been a while since she had really tried to date anyone. In fact there had only been one girl that she had dated, after Tara died, and that, though it had ended well, hadn't really felt like an actual relationship, which really her friends weren't talking about a relationship. Maybe everyone was right. Maybe she did need to put herself out there more. She had been so consumed in keeping herself busy that she hadn't really been thinking about the fact that she needed to enjoy more grownup aspects of life.

"Fine," she said, finally, "I'll go, but it's not to…get laid," she lifted her head, "I'm not that type of person."

Faith frowned, "The type of person who wants to have an orgasm before they're too old to have one?" all of them just gave her a look, and then headed out of the classroom, "I'm just sayin', everyone likes to have sex every once in a while."

-- TO BE CONTINUED --


	2. Day One Attempt 1

Chapter One: Day One--Attempt # 1

Kennedy stood outside her apartment building, with her arms crossed, as she waited for her sister to arrive, so they could head off to the club that they had been invited to for the night. She hadn't really dressed up, because she figured that it wouldn't be that type of party, so she wore a pair of jeans and a nice enough shirt, with a black blazer. It was a comfortable outfit, which was good, because she needed to make sure that if anything were to go wrong, there would be no wardrobe malfunction that would prevent her from leaving….or getting Lara out of some random situation she was bound to get into. The girl was smart, and nice, but her social skills had a habit of being a bit off. She was a klutz who had a habit of saying things before she really thought it all through, especially when she was never--Yes, Kennedy definitely felt she needed to be comfortable.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to see what time it was, and sighed in frustration, 'Why can't she make my life easier, for once?' she wondered. The door to the building opened and Daphne stepped out, wearing small shorts, a t-shirt, with a small white jacket, and fur covered boots, making Kennedy frown even more, "What the fuck are you wearing, and why do you own boots like that?"

"I like them," she huffed, "Asshole."

"Right back at you," they stood in silence for a moment, and then Kennedy groaned, "Where is she? For once, we're actually going somewhere together that doesn't involve me having to talk to her bitch of a mother, and she's late? What the hell?"

Daphne laughed, "Maybe she's having issues picking out what she's going to where. Or," she turned her head slightly, "maybe she's having trouble sneaking out of the school, because she's not supposed to leave the grounds. It could be that--"

"It could be that," Kennedy laughed, "But, could she not call me and be like--by the way sis, since she has a habit of calling me that lately…I'm going to be extremely late, and possibly completely throw you off your game."

"Is it possible, Kennedy being thrown off her game? No," she said, sarcastically, "What kind of game are you playing tonight, exactly? Will I need to put some ear plugs in when I go to bed tonight, so I won't hear your artful skills getting one of those scanks you bring around to scream your name at three in the morning?" her best friend just laughed, which in turn made her laugh, "Yeah well, I guess I should be used to that by now…though it has been a bit quiet lately, don't you think? Are you finally starting to slow down a bit?"

She shrugged, "Nah, I'm just looking for new options, is all."

"I guess it would be hard to find something new in a town you've seen every square inch of," she scooted closer to her, "Why the hell is it so cold outside, and how are you not shaking your ass off?"

"I'm not half naked, for one thing," rolling her eyes, she took off her jacket, and put it around her best friend's shoulders, "Plus that jacket you have on is as good as a holey shirt. Whereas I have warm clothes on, and don't look like a hooker--Your street name wouldn't happen to be Trixie, would it?"

Daphne gasped, sarcastically, "How'd you know?" she asked, "Is my pimp selling me to this side of the totem pole, now?"

"Please, you'd come willingly," Daphne slapped her on the arm, "Hey watch it, we don't want some cop thinking I'm your pimp, and we're having some sort of disagreement, now do we?" she looked at her phone again, "Man, I'm going to kill her when she gets here,"A car drove up in front of them--one that was even more expensive than any car Kennedy had every bought, or been given, since that was how she ended up with most of her expensive items, "My God," she said, with a dropped jaw, "There's a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster in front of me," she said, naming the silver car, "It can't be--"

"Oh, but it is," Daphne said, also with her mouth hanging open, "She told me he got a new car…but I wasn't expecting this."

Kennedy shook her head, "This just can't be happening," the door on the passenger door of the car opened, "My eighteen year old sister's boyfriend has a cooler car than me--What has the world come to?"

"I don't think you've noticed your sister, yet," Daphne said, as Lara stepped out of the car, wearing a miniskirt, and a black tank, "Or you'd be a little bit more on edge--You know, I'm not one to usually notice these things, just because I've closed my eyes to the universe, but your sister--"

"Finish that sentence and you will be going apartment hunting tomorrow, with your lack of cash flow," Kennedy warned.

Daphne nodded, "Okay."

Lara smiled at Daphne and her sister, "Hey, guys--Oh," she turned back to the car, and leaned her head in, saying a few words.

"She's really not used to those," Daphne commented, after seeing how Lara carelessly bent over, without even considering that she might be giving them an unwanted view. She looked over to Kennedy, who had her eyes shut tight, "That's mature of you."

"You better not be looking," she said, keeping her eyes closed.

Once she had finished saying by to her boyfriend, who remained in the car, at her request, she closed the car door, and headed over to the two women, "Hey, guys, sorry I'm late. There was all this traffic, and Graham was asking all these weird questions--Why are you all dressed like that? Are you sure you're just going to hang out with your sister?"

Daphne nodded, "Those are reasonable questions, considering how you usually dress."

Kennedy looked her sister over, with a frown, "I'm actually missing those mathlete shirts at the moment--I think you left one here last time, why don't we just run upstairs, and do a little last minute changing, like Daphne always does before she goes out…or even to the grocery store."

"I could meet my soul mate in the grocery store--If I were looking, of course, " she added.

Lara gave Daphne a quick hug, "Okay, Daph, we have to go," she saw Kennedy open her mouth to say something, "We're already late, sis, there's no time to change, so let's just go. Which car are we taking--Yours or Daphne's? Daphne's looks less expensive, which could be good for us."

"I'm offended by that," the blonde said, as she handed Kennedy the jacket she had let her borrow, "Sadly, Daphne has no gas, seeing that I have not had a job in about three weeks. Job searching is hard, did I mention that?"

The two sister's rolled their eyes, "Only a million times."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

"Okay," she put the car in park, and then turned it off, before turning to her sister, who had been fixing her skirt the whole way there, "I don't know why you decided to get all," she gestured out her outfit, "but, I do know that no matter what your intentions were, you better call them off," she looked over at the club, which looked pretty new, "This is not the time to go off experimenting."

Lara laughed, "First of all there were no intentions of anything. I just thought I'd try to look a little different than usual, and since my roommate, who is never actually in our room, stocks up on these types of clothes, I decided to take advantage of my recourses. Secondly, I go to a school that is an all girls school every day of the week, except for on the weekends, when things are suddenly coed--hints Graham, who I'm totally in a monogamous relationship with…what was my point?" she paused, "Oh, yeah--If I were going to any sort of experimenting, I'm pretty sure I could do that at school. Plus," she took off her seatbelt, and opened the car door, "I'm very secure in my bisexuality."

Kennedy laughed, as she too got out of the car, "I've so heard that one before."

"What is up with you full pledged lesbians always judging us bisexuals?" she asked, rolling her eyes, "Be glad that you're my sister, or I might have to pull out some hardcore facts about the fact that all people are attracted to--"

"Not the time, Lara," she took a deep breath, as she began to walk towards the club, making sure that she was in the right mode. All thought had to be focused on one things, without any distractions, or outside emotions. Lara being there was already going to 'cause an issue, so everything else needed to either be there completely, or as if it never existed in the first place.

Lara looked over at her sister, noticing a certain seriousness in her eyes, "Are you doing some kind of mind routine, right now, 'cause you've got this weird look in your eyes. If you're worried about me getting in the way of whatever you're here to do, you shouldn't be--I will not get in your way. Don't worry about me, tonight."

"You know…" she trailed off for a moment, while looking over at her sister. At that moment, she didn't see that annoying girl, "sometimes, you're not so bad."

"Wow," she put her hand over her heart, "That is the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Now," she grabbed Kennedy's arm, "Let's go, we're late."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

At a table in the loud club, full of loud eighteen through twenty-three year olds, minus a few of the staff, Willow and Buffy sat, staring out at everyone. After being convinced to dance, Willow was ready to head home, and go to bed for the night. She was tired, and the place seemed louder than usual. Not to mention the fact that a certain someone had yet to show up, like Dawn had said she would.

She leaned over towards Buffy, "I think I'm gonna leave soon," she yelled.

Buffy frowned, "What? Why?"

"Because I'm tired, and I didn't want to come in the first place," she answered. Her best friend gave her a look, "What? What is that face that you're making right now?"

"Well," the slayer began, "I'm thinking that your reason for coming has not showed up, and now you want to go back to the school and down yourself in ice-cream, over a non-rejection rejection," she paused, confused by her own words, "Will, you can't not date for the rest of your life. I haven't seen you look at anyone the way that you looked at this woman, in a very long time. She could be nice."

"She could be a lot of other things that aren't nice. I know that you guys are just doing what friends do, but I'm really fine with being single. I'm a busy woman these days, anyways. How do you know I'll even have time for a relationship--Why am I even thinking that far ahead?"

Buffy smiled, "Because that's what you want…a relationship. And, we both know you would make time, even if it's not with this hot mamma you were staring at, earlier," she put her hand on top of her friends, "I'm thinking that we should go out tomorrow, to a more grownup place, where we're not having to watch a bunch of slayers run around on the dance floor. That way we'll both just be able to really focus on ourselves, and open our eyes to the possibilities."

"That's nice of you, but you do realize that we're not looking for the same thing, right?" she laughed, "Where could we possibly go where there will be straight guys, and lesbians? Unless…."

"Nope, there is no unless," she blurted, "Despite what Faith and Dawn are spreading around, not all slayers are gay, or bi, or whatever. Some of us are purely into all things men--Not that women aren't nice, I'm just not really into the whole…"

"I don't know, Buff. Look around you," they peered out into the crowd, mostly seeing a blur of bodies grinding against each other, or actually making out, "They've got a pretty strong case," she started to laugh, but stopped, seeing a new face appear in the crowd, "Oh…"

The slayer followed her friends gaze, and smiled, "Well, look who showed up after all."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Lara tried her best to stay close to her sister as they made their way through the crowd. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with the constant grazing of skin against her own, though she had not been prepared for it all, she was just trying not to be separated from Kennedy, before she knew it was time for her to back off. The thumping of the music was somewhat matching her heart, which happened to be pounding as well, as the excitement coursed through her. She could see, even from behind, that Kennedy was calm and held together, and so she was trying to match her sister's behavior, but it was already proving to be difficult. Actually going on one of Kennedy's 'outings' with her was something that she couldn't quite comprehend. Sure, it might have been because Kennedy had no other person to play the role of an enrolling student, but the fact was--She was needed. Her part, though just a part, was necessary for whatever was planned to be planned out.

"Dean!…Dean!"

Kennedy stopped walking, only to have Lara run into her, "Someone's calling you," she yelled, turning to her sister, who looked confused by her words. That was a sign of trouble for Kennedy. She looked her sister square in the eyes, as if to send a message, "Dean."

"Right," she said, having it click in her head. She looked around, hearing that name being said again, and spotted Dawn trying to get through the crowd, "Dawn," she called back, "Hey."

Finally able to make it through the crowd, Dawn stopped in front of the two sister, breathing heavily, with a smile on her face, "Hey, guys, I'm glad you made it," she looked the both of them over, and raised her brows at Lara's outfit, "That's a little different than the mathlete shirts."

"Too different," Kennedy commented.

Dawn laughed, "That's so something my sister would say," she looked over towards the table that Buffy and Willow were sitting out, noticing he sister's attempt to subtly wave them over, "Who is waving for me to bring you guys over, so follow me."

As Dawn began to push through the crowd, Kennedy leaned towards 'Dean', as they followed, "Okay, so this is the game plan, you ready?"

She smiled, "I've been ready."

"Anyways…" she rolled her eyes, "Right now, I'm find with the group hang out, but eventually, I'm going to need some one on one time with fifty-five," as she said that number, she looked past Dawn at the blonde sitting at the table, contemplating how she could possibly get her to follow the current of her plan. Once she saw the nervousness of the redhead, she began to see an opening. She saw a possibility that she had not seen--Had not known about, because it was part of the woman's background. It would turned a face; a number…into a person. But, at the moment, the face and number stood it's ground.

"Right, no crowding. Got it," Lara said, with a nod.

Dawn went and stood by her sister, "This is Buffy, my sister, and this is Willow," she gestured to each of them, as she spoke, "Buffy, Willow, this is Dean, and--" she tilted her head, "I don't know your name yet."

Lara looked at her sister, waiting to hear some kind of code name, just like her own, except probably one that usually belongs to a woman. That's why she was shocked, when from her sister's lips came the name--

"Kennedy," she extended her hand, "My name's Kennedy. It's nice to meet both of you."

Having seen the scene from across the room, Faith approached the table, "Well, look who showed up," she extended her hand, "Dean, right?" she asked, as she shook the younger sister's hand. Then she looked to the girl's sister, "And--"

"Kennedy," they shook hands, "And you're Faith."

She grinned, "That's me," she happened to glance over at Buffy, who was glaring at her, and stopped smiling, "It's cool that you made it. I'm just gonna go back over and keep an eye on my side of the club."

Willow frowned, "Aren't we going to talk about the whole enrolling?"

Dawn was the one to answer, "I just thought we'd let Dean get to know some of the girls first. You know…to, uh…"

The redhead squinted, "If she likes the atmosphere? Dawn, we're in a club, it's not like this is how they're are at the school."

"True. But, it's not like the girls don't act a little different when a teacher's not around," the youngest Summers explained, "This way, she'll get to know the girls a little, and see if she really wants to commit to the whole slayer lifestyle."

Buffy nodded, "I could see the reasoning in that," she got up from her spot, "I'll help with that. Let's start on Faith's side, and work our way back over," Willow gave her a look, "Don't worry, Will, we'll be back in a jiffy."

Kennedy took a small step, "I'll stay here," she said, noticing an immediate opening, "It's up to Dean, after all, whether or not she gets enrolled," she noticed a cup in front of the redhead, "I'm just gonna go grab a drink. Then, I'll come right back."

"Okay," Willow nodded.

They watched Kennedy disappear, and then turned back to the redhead. Faith grinned, "Looks like she's legal," she looked over at Dean, "You do know what we're doing, here, right?"

She nodded, "Yep," she smiled--In the back of her mind however, there wasn't a smile. She was thinking only one thing, 'I don't think you know what you're really doing, though. Let's hope that this isn't that kind of job.'

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Kennedy stood at the bar, looking around her as she did. From the looks of everything--the number of people she guessed were there; the loudness of the entire club; the way that no one seemed to be paying any sort of attention to anyone that wasn't right in front of them--thing were going to work out. Really, she had thought it would take longer, and include a long process of getting closer and closer to the academy 'staff', but it wasn't looking that way. Of course, she was prepared for any sort of opportunities at all times. Meaning that though she wasn't doing things in her usual style, but she was still able to get the job done, if given a perfectly clear chance.

The bartender handed her a drink; it was light, so she could stay focused throughout the night. As she made her way back to the table, she made sure to know exactly where her sister was. They wouldn't be making any hasty escapes, but it was good to know where the girl was exactly. She also noted Buffy's position, as well as, Dawn's and Faith's. It was very important to know their whereabouts at all times. They were the only people who could possibly get in her way.

Once that was set, she looked over at the redhead, who seemed to be having an argument with herself--In her head of course. It seemed that the woman was having an issue with something, or someone. Possibly herself…but, it didn't matter. Kennedy didn't need to know those things; she didn't need to know anything. The things she needed to know were known, and anything outside of that did not exist. It just didn't.

"Sorry," she said, as she sat down, "There was a line, and about fifty IDs that needed to be checked."

"Yeah, we try to make sure that none of the underage girls get drunk. Last time that happened, things didn't go so well," she laughed for a moment, and then she realized what she had said, "Not that it happens a lot, 'cause it doesn't. I mean, it has happened…a few times, but we're doing all that we can to--"

"Dean doesn't drink," Kennedy interrupted. She tried not to frown at the woman's babbling, or to question it in any way. Questioning things brought about risks, so she pushed any sort of rising question completely aside, "So no worries about the drinking. Plus, I'm sure that her roommate, at that crazy all girl school she goes to, drinks and does all kinds of other things. That outfit she's wearing--" they turned to look at Lara, "It's her roommate's."

"Hmm, I was wondering why she wasn't exactly fitting Faith and Dawn's description," they both turned their eyes back to each other, which had her notice the woman's features once again, but she tried not to seem as if she were really staring, "So, how'd you hear about the school?"

"Dean heard about it, actually. At first I thought she was kidding, but once we did a little investigation on the internet, I was pretty convinced--Well, really I was convinced when we actually got to the school, but the internet had me questioning," she needed to seem as ordinary as possible. Like she had a life outside of her sister, and within the typical mindset of the average person; minimal talk of monsters if possible, and a slight questioning of everything, "How'd you end up working there?" she asked, though it was a question she knew the answer to.

"I helped set it all up after some changes that I made…It's complicated," she settled on that instead of going into the fact that she was the one who had made all the potentials around the world into slayers. That wasn't the type of first conversation she wanted to have with anyone, "But once I helped with the setting up, I figured I'd stick around, and help with teaching and stuff. We had settled in Europe in the beginning, but now we're giving the usual staff a little vacation--They're teaching in Europe, we're back in the U.S. of A."

"I like Europe," she nodded, "That was where I went to school for a while, and I had thought of staying, but I figured that I'd come back, at least for a while."

"Because of Dean?" she asked, before she took a sip of her drink.

Kennedy shrugged a little, "It had to do with family, yeah, but not Dean specifically," she paused for a moment, feeling a slight urge to continue to talk--Family was not a good topic for the job; not at all, but it had been brought up, and therefore put into the situation, "She didn't live at home, anyways."

"But knowing that the people you love are close makes things a little easier, even if you don't get to see them everyday, you know that maybe that weekend…or for lunch--Things like that, they're helpful," she gave a slight smile, and took another sip of her drink.

She also took a sip of her drink, "I guess," once again, she glanced over at her sister, who was laughing at the moment; a good sign that she was keeping busy. Then, she turned back to Willow, seeing her opportunity to get the focus back on fifty-five, and off of herself, "So, you and your friends, have you always stuck together, or…?"

"Well, Buffy and I have been best friends since high school, and we've pretty much stayed in the same area since then. We were apart for a year, and it was just weird, considering that our friend Xander decided to take a vacation from all of this. As for Dawn, she's been with us mostly, after she went through the whole wanting to spread her wings phase for about…six months," she laughed, "It didn't go well. Then, Faith…she's been around off an on, but mostly on, which is pretty ironic considering all the things we've all gone through."

There was no need to question what the woman was talking about, she knew Faith's past very well, along with Buffy's, and Dawn's past. The only one she hadn't taken much interest in was the past of the woman sitting in front of her--Her reason for looking into the other's was just to know what she was working with; anything and anyone who could possibly get in the way, "Well things seemed to work out pretty well, then."

"They did. They worked out great," she sighed, with a smile on her face, "How about you? You have any life long friends that you're still really close too? I hear it doesn't happen that often."

Her question of whether she had an advantage, from when she noticed the way the redhead was looking at her before, was definitely a yes--whether it was actually turning out to be an advantage was a different question, and one that didn't have a secure answer. She was almost completely sure that the woman in front of her was somewhat interested in her--Not completely, because getting a guarantee might cause problems, which she was not willing to let arise, "It doesn't happen often, trust me…but, I've managed to keep one around. She was actually my roommate at the school in Europe. Now, she's my roommate here."

"Oh," she put her hands in her lap, and looked down slightly, "Have you been living together long?" she asked, not wanting to directly ask the question that was running in her mind.

"Since graduation, pretty much. She's going through a rough spot right now--" it was information she hadn't planned on mentioning. In fact she had pushed Daphne completely out of her mind the moment that they had left the apartment building, and yet she found herself explaining a situation she hadn't really discussed with anyone, "She recently lost her job, and since her parents cut her off when she decided that she didn't want to be a doctor--like they had requested so nicely--well, she doesn't exactly have any money at the moment," she rolled her eyes, "Lucky for her, she's got a best friend like me, who's willing to take care of her…unless she stops looking for a job. If that happens, she might find herself standing on the nearest street corner, which has been the topic of conversation a lot today," she laughed--She laughed. An actual laugh had escaped her. A part of her was exposed; revealed. Time was shorter than she thought. It was time…

Willow laughed too, "We've also had strange topics of conversation at the school, lately," as they laughed, she found herself going into more of a staring than a looking at. That was when the words fell out, "You have a gorgeous smile," she noticed the slight change in Kennedy's laugh, and felt herself begin to blush, "I'm sorry--"

"No, it's fine," she glanced over at her sister, along with the woman she had walked off with--They were still laughing; their attention was still focused on something other than her and the redhead, who she looked to, "Do you want a refill?" she asked---Yes, it was time…

"Sure," she handed Kennedy the cup, "I was drinking that orange thing that they have," she laughed, "which I don't know the name of, because Dawn ordered it for me."

She put her nose over the cup, trying to see what it was that the woman had been driking, "I'll figure it, or get something even better."

"Thanks."

"No problem," when she turned, the smile on her face, faded. There was no longer a reason to smile, or laugh. Everything was in motion. Any emotion that had risen, she pushed down quickly, and carefully, making sure to put it in the right area. She needed to be focused; to not make any mistakes whatsoever.

When she reached the bar, she asked for a refill of what she knew the woman had been drinking, and of her drink as well--She was good at things like that, and knowing what drink the redhead had been drinking exactly would definitely be helpful considering what she was about to do. Once the cups were refilled, she subtly pulled a small glass tube from her pants pocket, which held what she needed to get the job done. Inside was a clear liquid that could be deadly when too much of it is taken into the body--It wasn't her usual way of doing things, but it would be clean--completely untraceable. She knew exactly how much would be needed to do the job. It was time to do it--As quickly, and as accurately as she could, she poured some of the liquid into the orange liquid, put the tube back in her pocket, and then picked up the cups to carry them back over to the table.

Before she reached it, she happened to look over at her sister, who somehow had a cup in her hand, making her question whether 'Dean' didn't really drink, though it could have been non-alcoholic. It wasn't like the girl hadn't been trying new things over the whole day. Lara lifted the cup in her direction, and smiled, which--for some reason--instantly made her arm rise in return. Then they both took drinks from the cups in their risen hands. Kennedy took a bigger swallow, as she turned her attention back to Willow, who was awaiting her return, just as her cell phone in her jacket pocket began to vibrate. She put one of the cups between her forearm and her stomach, trying not to put to much pressure on the cup, as she got her cell phone out of her pocket. The name on the screen was Daphne, which made her laugh, until the name on the screen began to blur. She looked to fifty-five, and then her sister…the room was turning into a blur.

That's when it hit her--Just as her eyes rolled back, and she felt her knees go weak, she realized…she had taken a drink from the wrong cup.

"Kennedy!"

-- TO BE CONTINUED --


	3. Day Two

Chapter Two: Day Two

Kennedy's eyes opened slowly, groaning as she did. For a moment, she just laid there, her vision blurry; wondering where she was. Nothing was seeming to register through her mind--She was just there, staring up whatever ceiling that was above her. Her mind didn't question it; didn't try to think of where she was, or why. For once, there was nothing going through her mind. That was, until a familiar face appeared above her.

"You're awake," Lara smiled. She sat down on the floor in front of the couch, crossing her legs Indian style, "So I'm guessing that things didn't go well, then, because having to check my sister's pulse in a crowd of drunken teens doesn't seem to be the life of an ordinary girl--Well, unless her sister happens to be some kind of drug addict, or an alcoholic. I mean, yeah, you drink a lot, but not enough to where you would just pass out like you did--"

"Wait, what?" she frowned, and looked around again, "We're at the apartment?" she questioned. Her sister just shook her head, "Why are we…" her voice trailed off as she realized that if she was home, and had passed out like her sister had said, that could only mean that she had failed. Not only had she failed, but she had put herself at risk in the process, "Shit…"

Lara nodded, "Yeah," she laughed, slightly, "Something went very very wrong. One moment we were toasting, then you were falling, and I was running, and calling--It was like one of those movies, or television shows where someone that you thought was healthy all of a sudden passes out and you find out that they have some mystery illness--"

"Lara," she said, as she slowly sat up, groaning once again, as her head began to pound, "you really need to stop watching TV," put two fingers to her own neck, seeing exactly what her pulse was.

"I'm pretty sure that you're alive," she shrugged, "You scared the crap out of everyone at the club, and almost gave me a heart attack at a very young age, but you're alive, which I'm very happy about by the way. That would have been a huge traumatic experience for me, and probably everyone else there," Kennedy rose from the couch, "Where are you going?"

"I'm dehydrated," she groaned, "I can't believe I did that--It's me. I don't do things like that. Not ever. Not only that," after grabbing a bottle of water, she walked back into the living room, and fell back onto the couch, "me being a live tells me that I didn't even put enough of it in the drink. It was enough to knock me out immediately, but it didn't kill me, which means--"

"It wouldn't have killed her," Lara finished, "So it is one of those jobs after all," she said, sadly, which made Kennedy give her a look, "It's just that when you were all--All of them; Dawn, Buffy, Faith, and…Willow were the ones that were all trying to figure out what was wrong with you. Kennedy," they looked each other in the eyes, "she checked your pulse, and put a cold towel on your head--Do you know how hard it was to get them to believe that you didn't need to go to the hospital? Then, I figured it was something in the drink, and I had to make sure that they didn't even consider it at all, along with getting someone to mop it up so they wouldn't think of it later on--They were just so focused on helping you…I think it was a sign."

"It wasn't a sign," she took a swallow of water, "It was a fuck up. A huge deadly fuck up that never should have happened," after a moment, she spoke again, "And, I'm--I'm sorry if it scared you," for the first time, she noticed that she was in different clothes. That her nice clothes had been replaced by sweatpants, and a t-shirt, "Who--"

"Don't worry, I didn't let them come here, or anything," she rolled her eyes, "I wasn't that freaked out."

"Right," Kennedy laughed, "So what, you just got me home, and up here, changed my clothes put me on the couch--You did that all by yourself? You can't expect me to believe that."

"I didn't say that I did it all by myself," there was a sound of a key entering the door, which brought a smile to her face, "In fact my helper is about to walk through that door. I'm sure that she's going to be so happy to see that you're awake."

She looked to the door, first unsure of what her sister was saying, but when it clicked, she couldn't help but want to get up, go into her room, and lock the door. But, before she could even begin to stand, the front door opened, "Hey Daph," she said, forcing a smile on her face.

Daphne closed the door behind her, and walked over to the two sisters, looking down at both of them, with a hardened expression, "I hate the both of you," she said, before walking away, and into the kitchen.

Kennedy rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, Daph."

"What did I do?" Lara questioned.

She grabbed a beer from the fridge, and walked back into the living room, sitting on the smaller couch, "You," she said, looking at Kennedy, "You don't get to say 'come on, Daph' after scaring the living shit out of me last night. Getting a call from Lara freaking out like that isn't the best way to be woken up, just to let you know."

Lara looked to Kennedy, "I wasn't freaking that much."

Daphne laughed, "Oh please. You were freaking out big time, which made me freak out even more. Look at me, I'm drinking at eleven o'clock in the morning--Do you know how long it's been since I've drank this early? Let me tell you--Forever."

"Well technically--" Lara began, but stopped seeing that both Kennedy and Daphne were glaring at her, "Never mind."

"Kenn," she continued, "it really freaked me out."

She nodded, "I'm sorry."

"Then, you," she looked to Lara, "You knew that you weren't just going out to go out," Lara and Kennedy both started to speak, but she put her hand up to stop them, "No, I don't want to know anything, or hear any kind of random excuses, like Lara was feeding to those people--Because I really doubt that work has been really stressful for you, when you only work about twenty days each year."

"There's definitely some stress now," Kennedy mumbled.

"For the both of us," Lara added.

Kennedy huffed, "Uh uh, no. Just because you were there last night, doesn't make you a part of this whole thing, Lara."

"Are you kidding me?" she gasped, "After last night--You're kidding, right, because you're insane if you think that your little 'fuck up' will get me to back off from this, Kenn."

"It isn't really up to you. None of this has nothing to do with you, sorry to let you know--"

"The hell if it doesn't. I'm just as wrapped up in it as you, now--"

"Okay," Daphne yelled, "Both of you shut the fuck up, 'cause I'm really not wanting any details on whatever the fuck that's going on, and the both of you are getting closer and closer to letting it slip. I can tell. So, shut up."

"Fine," Kennedy looked around at a few tables around, "I need to call someone, where's my cellphone?" she asked.

"About that," Lara looked to the side, "You see when you passed out, you kind of dropped everything in your hands, and your cell phone slid away--But," she added quickly, "Dawn picked it up, when Daph as we got you to the car…Only thing is, I kind of forgot to get it from her, so…"

She let her head fall back on the couch, closing her eyes in frustration, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Don't worry, though," Lara said, with a smile, "I called them, and told them that I'd come pick it up later. Dawn won't be there, but she said that either Buffy, or Willow will be there. So, yeah, I'm on it."

Kennedy laughed, "Oh that makes me feel so much better," her laughter was cut short, when she all of a sudden gagged, "Oh, God," she put her hand over her mouth, and ran to the restroom, leaving Lara and Daphne with wide eyes.

Lara leaned forward to look down towards the restroom, "Do you want me to come--" the restroom door slammed shut, and she relaxed back onto the floor, "hold your hair?" she finished, quietly. Then she looked to Daphne, "I have a feeling that she's going to be sick for a while--Just a thought."

Daphne took a swig of her beer, "Well, I guess she doesn't remember all the times that she threw up on the floor last night--Which you left me to clean up."

"If I would have done it I would have ended up cleaning up my own vomit. It would have been like a disgusting chain of reaction; She vomits, then I vomit, then that might make her vomit again, and me again, and…" she watched Daphne get up and leave the room, and then sighed, "Okay, then, I'll just come back later…cell phone, so…yeah."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Buffy walked into Willow's classroom, glad to see that Willow was the only one in the room, and she hadn't forgotten about one of the witches many classes, yet again, "Hey," she said, walking over to her friend's desk, where she placed Kennedy's cellphone, "Can you take care of that for me, I'm about to head out."

"Yeah, right," Willow laughed, looking up at her friend from her desk chair, "So you and Dawn just both happen to have something to do today?"

"We do work at a school, Will," she said, with a nod, "There's always something that needs to be done. This is us being responsible, and making sure that everything is in place for tonight, which--" she smiled, "you totally forgot about, didn't you?"

She wanted to say no, but couldn't, "I might have forgotten," her best friend gave her a look, "Okay, I completely forgot, but after last night, you've got to expect that."

"Yeah," she sat on the end of the desk, "It was a little scary."

"A little?" the redhead questioned, "Monsters and demons don't compare, and not just 'cause of the fact that--It was just so out of nowhere, and Dean was freaking out--"

"She was beyond freaking out. For a moment I thought that she was going to be laid on the floor right beside her sister. If we wouldn't have gotten her to calm down, I'm sure she would have. It's a good thing that Faith has some good qualities, at times," she paused, "Have you seen Faith today?" Willow frowned, and she extended her thought, "It's just that--I haven't seen her at all this morning, and she was gone for like half the night, so--"

"Uh, Buffy," the redhead interrupted, "I don't know anything," she said, knowing that her friend wasn't asking about Faith out of any concern. Actually, Faith had stopped by her class that morning, before leaving, and asked her to cover some things for her, because she was going out to meet someone--which she went into some detail about, and then told the redhead not to tell Buffy specifically. Willow rose from her chair, shaking her head at her friend, "I can't believe that you're adding to the gossip of the school. You didn't gossip in high school, but you want to start now?"

"No, this isn't me adding to gossip. This is actual concern here. Real, actual concern. We've all been together for such a long time now, and you know--Faith is sometimes like family, and--" she rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine. I'm adding to gossip," she watched Willow grab a few things, letting her know that the redhead was about to leave the classroom, "But it's all for my good cause."

"Trust me," Willow looked her friend in the eyes, "knowing where Faith went this morning will not help your so called cause."

"Ah ha," she too stood up, "You do know something. Willow I'm your best friend, we're supposed to share things with each other. Secrets aren't allowed. All I want is a little detail on--" when she turned to follow Willow out of the room she saw that Faith was standing in the doorway, and hesitated for a moment, "Uh, I just want detail…on--On what you're wearing to the thing tonight."

Faith laughed, "Oh please. You just can't help yourself, can you? If you wanted to know where I've been, the best thing you could of done is waited to ask me yourself, instead of pulling this best friend bullshit act with Red, here. She's got another class to teach in about two hours, give her a break--I was at the gym, alright," she looked to Willow, "Thanks for covering for me."

"No problem," she nodded.

Buffy watched Faith disappear into the hallway, and then turned to the other woman in the room, "She was not at the gym," she whispered, "I checked there first."

Willow rolled her eyes, and walked around her friend, "Bye, Buffy."

"I checked there first," she shouted. Then she looked towards Willow's desk, "Plan B?"

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Kennedy found herself walking out of the bathroom again, not feeling any better than she had any of the other times she had walked from the hallway bathroom back to the living room. Really, she felt worst than she was letting on, but taking the chance of letting Daphne and Lara see how sick she really was would only lead to much concern, and questioning. There was only one way for her to feel better, and it had nothing to do with throwing up. What she had put in that cup took something to fight it within her, and the only way she could get a hold of something like that was if she could get a hold of a friend of hers, but that would take having her cellphone, which she didn't have.

"Still puking?" Daphne asked, as she watched Kennedy walk back into the living room, while she made her something to eat in the kitchen, "I guess that means that you don't want to share this sandwich I'm making," her friend groaned, as she fell onto the couch, making her laugh, "Good, that means I get to be a cow and eat it all."

"That's nothing new," Kennedy laughed, "You're only offering 'cause you know any kind of food will send me right back into the bathroom, which I'm sure you're actually enjoying, as some sort of twisted--that's what you get--type of thing."

She laughed, and carried her sandwich, wrapped in a paper towel, into the living room with her, "Well, you can't blame me after last night," she sat next to her friend, and took a big bite of her sandwich, "Mm…goodness."

"Disgusting," she closed her eyes, and leaned her head back, fighting the headache she had, "Where's Lara?" she asked, "I thought she said that she was going to stick around for a few more hours."

"Yeah," she finished chewing, and then swallowed, "and it's been a few more hours, so she left," turning slightly, to face Kennedy more, she frowned, "Are you feeling that bad?" she asked, seriously concerned. At first, she had thought that it was a bug…or then something like food poisoning…that she suspected to have been purposely done--But as she looked at her friend, she was thinking it was something stronger, "Maybe we should go to the--"

"No," opening her eyes, she saw the look on her friends face, and sighed, "I just need my phone back. Once I get that, I'll be back to my usual never-getting-sick self," she laughed. She could see that Daphne believed her, which made her happy, because she really didn't want her to worry at all. It could have been so much worse--"So…where'd you go this morning?"

She almost chocked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you were walking in from somewhere when I woke up, and you can't say the store, because you didn't come back with anything. Job hunting is also not an option, 'cause you wouldn't go job hunting after last night."

"I took a walk," she said, after a few seconds, "So I could stop freaking out over seeing my best friend passed out and puking all night."

Turning her head slightly, she slit her eyes at her roommate, "Nah, I'm not buying that. Honesty is the key to a healthy relationship, just to let you know."

"Well," she smiled, "It's a good thing we're no longer in one," just as she was about to say something; to continue what she was thinking, their was a knock at the door, "Who the hell--" they knocked again, so she got up, "Okay, I'm coming…jackass," she mumbled, "It better not be you Lara. Knocking like you're a--" when she opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks, seeing someone she definitely hadn't expected, "Corey."

Kennedy sat up straight, "Corey?" she said, unsure that it could be possible. Corey was who she had needed to call--who had what she needed, "What the fuck are you doing here?" happy, and yet confused, she rose from her spot, and walked over towards them. He looked like his normal self--light blue jeans, flip flops, a button up white shirt, with a black tie, and a pretty nice black jacket. He had tanned skin--from being mixed--and his hair was a bundle of tight curls somewhat like an afro, hanging right above his grey eyes, which were covered by sunglasses. The thing she was most happy to see hadn't changed, was the tote bag he carried around with him, no matter where he went.

He walked in, taking off his shades as he did, "I got some word that you might want to see me, so here I am. I know you're happy to see me Daphne," she rolled her eyes at him, making him laugh, "Don't worry, I'll be out of here in no time."

"Good, 'cause I'm not a big fan of cops busting into where I live looking for a lowlife like you," she glared.

Still, Corey laughed, "That was only one time, and that was dropped by the way. No worries, I'm in a hurry today, anyways," he walked past Kennedy, towards her bedroom, "You coming, or what?"

"Yeah, just a sec," once he was in her room, she looked to her roommate, who stood with her arms crossed, even with the sandwich in her hand, giving her a questioning look, "Whatever you're thinking he's here for, you're wrong. This will only take two seconds…well, more than two seconds, but not that long," the woman just walked away from her, which was actually better than a lecture, so she turned and went to her room, closing the door behind her. She looked to Corey, who was sitting on her bed, "I swear you're like God."

"All knowing. Yeah, I know," he reached into his tote bag, looking for one thing in particular, "Loose your pants."

She frowned, "Really?" he opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him, by removing her sweatpants, "So, how do you even know--"

"I get a call about someone chick named Kennedy passing out in a club," he scoot over on the bed, and motion for her to sit down, as he pulled out a syringe, "I figure it's something strong, and then narrow it down when they say that you suddenly just passed out--Knowing you, it could have only been one thing," he took the top off the syringe, and put pressure on the end, to get a little of the liquid to come out. Then, turned to her, put his hand on her knee.

"Who did you hear this from, exactly?" she asked, bracing herself, because he had a habit of not giving her warning--At least he hadn't when they had other sorts of business between one another.

He shrugged, "I know a few of the slayers that go to that academy--No worries, they go for things all natural. Just to let you know…you're playing a dangerous game here. These aren't just normal people walking around--You don't want to mess with them. Word on the street," he plunged the needle into her thigh, and tightened his grip on her knee, knowing that she was going to jump, which she did. He continued to speak, as he slowing ejected it into her body, "this ain't as black and white as it seems."

When he was finished, she rose from her bed, rubbing her thigh as she did, "I don't care about any of that. I've got a job to do, and that's plain and simple."

"What if it's not this time?" he asked, placing the needle in the bag, "I'm gonna be honest…I only looked into these people today, after your little sister called me, saying something about you needing some kind of fix-me-up."

"Lara called you?" she frowned, "How does she even have your number? How does she know who you even are? I mean, yeah, you've met, but--"

"One, you got Daphne in there bad mouthing me. Anyone listening to her has to know what I do. She's got the biggest mouth ever. Two, I'm pretty sure your sister can track anyone down in a heartbeat. Seeing a payphone number pop on my phone already tells me that it's a business call--Though I ain't getting paid for this one," he stood up, "Like I was saying…I looked into these people, and they've got some pretty strange shit following them around. People from darker places even know who they are--Thing is, these darker places folk, they're scared of them…I'm thinking that maybe you're fighting for the wrong side."

"I don't have a side, let's get that straight. Whoever hires me, they give me a name, and I either protect, or kill. It's that simple. I don't ask questions, or investigate anything, alright?"

He looked at her for a moment, and then nodded, "In that case, I got something that could maybe help you out," he smiled, "This academy is apparently having some grand get together thing at this hotel downtown. It's a real fancy place, stage, chairs, wine…you know what I'm saying?" she nodded in response, prompting him to go on, "Well, this uh chick is making a speech. Apparently she's one of the people that's made this academy even possible into coming into existence--Goes by the name Willow," he notices a change in her look, and smiled even broader, "Yeah, I figured that if you were out for blood, it'd be blood form someone on top."

She crossed her arms, "What all do you know?" she asked, "About this get together--I mean do you have the number of people going to be there? Security detail?"

"I've got something better," he reached into his bag, and pulled out a large folded piece of paper, "Blue prints for the building, as well as a few surrounding businesses. If you want them," he held out the blueprints.

Kennedy knew him well enough to know that it wasn't that simple. There was a never a moment where he did anything for free. There was only one question-- "What do you want in return?"

He looked up, slightly, as if he were actually thinking, and then looked back at her, "I've got some people after me right now. Not so friendly--"

She grabbed the blueprints, and walked over to her door, "Done. Now get out," without another word, he walked out of the room, and she closed the door behind him. Her life had just been made easier. The only thing left to do, was figure out her next move to the point of perfection. She unfolded the papers, and placed them on her bed, "All I need is a room with a view."

BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR

Having finally bumped into someone, Lara made her way through the halls of the academy, heading in what she hoped to be going toward the classroom of one Ms. Rosenberg. She was making sure to take note of all things around her--learning which hall lead where, and possibly the exact number of feet from one spot to an exit door, incase there was ever a moment she needed to know such a thing. Seeing what had happened at the club the night before, it was possible that she actually might be running for her life through the academy halls one day. Kennedy's mission, though she didn't know the details, was definitely one that she saw as a possible problem for her future. These people weren't just any ordinary people; they had powers which could be used to hurt things. Especially things that hurt things that they loved--Like the teacher of the year, for example--Which happened to hold the title of 'Fifty-five' when spoken of by her sister.

That number system was one she didn't understand. According to her calculations, it was slightly lower than what she counted up, but as usual she was distracted from her thoughts, when she saw Willow through the window on the classroom door. She walked in, putting a slight smile on as she did, "Hi," the woman looked up at her, from her papers, "I'm here to pick up my sister's phone."

"Right," she opened the drawer next to her, "I had almost forgotten," she lied. Actually, she had been waiting for the cellphone to be picked up all day. The only thing about that was that she was expecting Kennedy to come get it. No, they hadn't said that it would be Kennedy specifically to come get it, but that's who she had expected--who she had hoped for it to be, "So, Dean," she pushed her chair back, stood up, and walked over to the other side of her desk, "is Kennedy doing okay?"

She walked over to the woman, who handed her the cellphone, which she put in her pocket, "Um, she's been kind of queasy, but I have a feeling that she'll be just fine."

"That's good. I'm glad to hear that after the scariness of last night," she laughed, slightly.

"Crazy things tend to happen when my sister's around," mentally, she hit herself for saying something like that. Something that could later be remembered, and therefore putting in them in a position of suspicion, if her sister were to ever 'fuck up' again, though she too thought it was very unlikely, "But she's definitely gonna be fine. I wanted to thank all of you for being so nice, and helpful."

"No problem. It's kind of what we do here," the witch smiled, "Though it's usually a little bit of a different situation than the one last night. Sickness is very rare in these parts--other than a common cold, but that has yet to lead to passing out….well, we did have that one student that had this weird thing where she would just pass out of nowhere."

"I think she used to go to my school, 'cause we had a girl like that, and one day I just heard that she transferred, or something," she paused, "She was nice--When she was awake, anyways."

"One of my favorite students. It just wasn't such a good thing when she fell asleep before finishing a spell--many big booms occurred. But she was nice…She just couldn't really stick around that long," Willow paused for a second, noticing the girl's change in style of clothing, "See, this is what you were described as, when Faith and Dawn described you too me. I think the mathlete shirt suits you. And, so do the glasses."

"I think so too," she looked down at her shirt for a moment, "Plus a miniskirt isn't really good in times of emergency."

"But you managed to make it work. Heavy lifting in a skirt is something that most of the girls have to get used to anyways. There's been all kinds of crazy not so comfortable out fit moments."

"It's a good thing I'm back to my jeans and t-shirt routine then. Having to bend over to lift Kennedy up, while wearing a skirt--Well, I had to put any kind of shyness aside," she leaned against a desk, slightly, as her mind filled with other things to say, and not just as a sort of warning to the woman--There were some questions she had, too. But, she was fighting her mind on putting herself into another possible bad situation.

Willow leaned on her own desk, "Well, I'm sure Kennedy's very grateful. You practically carried her to the car by yourself."

"Yeah…" she trailed off, looking down as she did. There were few things that her sister really didn't know about her, but what she didn't know, would have seemed like too much of a coincidence at the moment. Even she wondered just how it all came together, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the woman answered.

The teen sighed, "I know about all the things that come with being a slayer--Obviously," she laughed, "But I'm really just wondering how…What I read about it said something about there only being one. The chosen one--So I'm a little confused about how I'm…"

It had been a while since she had met a slayer that didn't know how thing had come to be the way they were--How one had turned into many. Because of how many years that had passed since the fall of Sunnydale, she really hadn't expected to personally meet many more slayers who knew absolutely nothing, but somehow ended up at the school doors, but there was someone right in front of her. Someone that was questing things, and all of it traced back to her.

"There was a spell," Willow finally said, "A couple of years ago, when the world was ending--which was nothing new," she rolled her eyes, "We needed something to stop it from happening, and I did a spell--"

"You performed the spell?"

Willow nodded, "Yes, I performed the spell," she said, taking note of how the girl correctly asked the questioned. She didn't ask her if she 'did' the spell; she asked her if she had performed the spell--something most people didn't say, and didn't quite understand. It never made any difference to her, but it was interesting to have actually heard it from someone, "And now all the girls out there, some of them grownups as well, that were potential slayers, are slayers. Including you."

"Wow," she huffed, "That's amazing--You're amazing," in her mind, it was declared official--the woman in front of her didn't deserve to die--along with that came the declaration of her making sure 'Fifty-five' didn't gain that title permanently in Kennedy's mind; that she didn't just become another number, "Thank you for the phone," she said, preparing to leave.

"Oh, no problem," she stood up straight, slightly thrown by the girl suddenly about to leave, "I'm glad that Kennedy's okay," she hesitated, "Uh, if she's feeling better later--the two of you should come to this thing we're having at that huge hotel downtown. It starts at like eight--very formal sort of thing. It sounds boring, I know--"

"No, it doesn't," she shrugged, "I'm not sure if Kenn will be filling better, but I'll definitely come either way," they said there quick goodbyes, and Lara walked out of the room, in sort of a rush. Once out of the building, she searched the numbers on her sister's phone, sighing at the fact that almost every name within it was a code name. Then, she found the one that she was looking for, "Did you give her the blue prints?" she asked, "And she bought that they were from you--Okay, bye," she hung up the phone, put it in her pocket, and continued to walk quickly towards Kennedy car, which she had borrowed without permission, 'Shoot, she's going to be there tonight, I know it,' she thought to herself, 'I just put a clear target on Willow's head.'

-- TO BE CONTINUED --


	4. Day Two Attempt 2

Chapter Two: Day Two--Attempt # 2

Dressed entirely in black, and her hair pulled back, Kennedy put her duffel bag's strap across her, making sure that it was secure, before she started to climb the fire escape of the abandoned building. Really, it wasn't abandoned at all, it was actually in the process of becoming the next business in that part of the city, but that didn't matter. It was empty, without any sort of alarm system, and was directly to the east of a certain window she needed to have a good view of--More importantly, the person that would be seen through the window, an hour from that time.

This sort of thing, she was more used to. In fact this was one of her most common way of killing her targets, because, despite what most people thought, there were some bullets that weren't traceable at all, and there was no way she was going to make any other silly mistakes, like leaving a hair in the building she was about to enter, or a finger print, or anything like that at all--And if she happened to actually make that mistake, the building was set to have workers arrive in the early hours, so they would definitely disrupt the scene long enough for her to take care of everything, while the authorities questioned the workers…That however, she was sure, was not going to happen. There would be no mistakes of any kind when she was in her element.

All she had to do was make it to the right floor, at the right time, with the right amount of focus. Once she was on the roof of the building, she looked for a hatch that was on the blueprint, at first not seeing it all, but with the help of the full moon above her, she was able to find it eventually…though the fact that it had taken time at all was disconcerting. She pulled on it roughly, happy to see that it was unlocked, and then climbed down the ladder that led her inside the building. It was cold, colder than it was outside, and plastic covered the walls, and floors--'even more perfect,' she thought--as she dug in her bag and pulled the blueprints of the building out. She turned slightly, making sure that they were a hundred percent right, considering who gave them to her, and then headed in the direction she needed to go in. She was a couple floors too high, according to the prints, so she looked for any stairways, finding them exactly where they should have been, and then went down five flights.

"Finally," she mumbled, as she walked back into the main part of the dark building. She counted office doors as she passed them, and then stopped when she reached her destination, with a slight smile on her face, that she let fade quickly--'All emotions are bad emotions,' she thought--When she entered the room, she immediately went over to the window, and felt around it's edges to find any sign of possible way of opening it, but before she even had the chance to fully search, she looked out the window, thinking she'd see the hotel she knew 'Fifty-five' would be making her speech. She searched for that perfect view of the window, and instead found herself staring at a sky scraper across the street--The one she needed to be in.

With a sigh, she rolled her eyes, in realization, "Shit…."

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Lara went into her room closet, that she shared with her roommate, and immediately looked to her roommates side to find something formal to wear to the 'get-together'. There was no way she could go in her usual clothes, and her only slightly formal outfit was the uniform that she had to wear to school once a month for some kind of weird tradition that she school had adapted, in the olden times--That definitely wasn't an option either. She didn't want to fill any school girl fantasies at the party…Luckily, her roommate, that was never there, to her likings actually, had clothes for all kinds of occasion; ranging from slut attire, to a dress that seemed to be from the Victorian era. What she was looking for, however, fell smack between those--she was looking for the little black dress.

"Who knew she'd have so many," she said to herself, pushing her glasses back in place, "Oh, wait, I would, since I live with her--" for some reason, she laughed at her own words. Perhaps out of nervousness, but she really wasn't interested in finding out why. She just needed something to wear, and she needed to hurry, since Willow was set to make her speech sooner than she would have liked to think. The whole celebration had actually started hours ago, but there were some things that she needed to do, while her sister had still been in the not-feeling-so-well area. Sure, Corey had given her sister something, but she knew that would take a minute to kick in fully, so when she went to deliver Kennedy's cell phone, she had waited in anticipation for the woman to get sick again, and then went into her room, and quickly switched out the blueprints that were in her bag, with the ones that were on Kennedy's bed--She needed to buy time somehow, so she altered her own mistake of getting the blueprints to Kennedy in the first place. Which turned out to be a good thing, since she was running late…

She finally picked out one of the many black dresses, a long with a pair of pumps she silently prayed not to make a full of herself in, and then started to get ready. The hair, she wasn't so sure about, but there was no real time to stress over it. Not if she wanted to save a life…or get herself killed in the process. There was only one way to stop a bullet from hitting someone, after all…okay, there was two, but either one could result in badness for her, and she knew it.

As she started to undress, she walked through her plans, in her head again, trying to ignore her anger at the fact that she didn't have to shower before leaving--Soon enough, she was pulled out of all thoughts, when she heard the sound of the door to her room opening.

"Um, give me a sec," she yelled, reaching for a sheet to cover herself, since she had removed her braw. The sheet however, had things laying on top of it, so she grabbed the sheets of the bed across from hers, instead, "I'm not exactly…well…just one sec," the door continued to open slowly, making her panic, "I said just a--" suddenly her words just stopped, when she caught sight of grey eyes, and tanned skin--fresh from the beach skin, "Sadie…."

"Hey roomy," the girl grinned, as she walked into the room fully, closing the door behind her with her free hand, and setting a bag down with the other, "You're naked."

"No," Lara blurted, "No…no. Technically, according to the definition of the word naked, I would have to be completely without any kind of clothing--exposed somehow-to be naked. I have panties…I mean, underwear--undergarments--under stuff…" she trailed off, frowning inwardly, "I'm not naked."

"No you're not, but that is my dress that you're about to put on," she walked over to Lara's bed, where the dress lay on top of a pile of papers, "Funny, I don't remember saying that you could borrow my clothes," she said, looking the other teen directly in the eyes.

"Funny, I didn't know if you were still breathing, since you're never here," she stood up completely, keeping the sheet around her, despite the fact that she wasn't naked.

"Touché," the teen sat down on Lara's bed, making sure to sit down without pushing anything aside, while still looking at her roommate. She enjoyed the slight cringe that crept through the other teen, though there was no question that Lara had tried to hide it. Things would have been more entertaining if she hadn't, "What's the occasion? You and Graham finally gonna get down, or what?" there was that cringe she wanted to see, "Nah, that can't be it. You haven't even spoken to my brother today, otherwise you would have known that I was coming home."

"Why are you here, exactly?" she reached to grab the dress, to take it into their closet and get ready, but Sadie had placed her hand on it first, consequently making her grab the other girl's hand instead of the dress. She pulled her hand back quickly, which resulted in an unwanted smirk from her roommate, "You're seriously not going to let me wear it?"

"You're seriously not going to ask me first?" she asked, in return. After a moment of just staring at one another, she removed her hand from her dress, "Fine, you can wear it, but if you are going with my brother, make sure that he doesn't get any of his gunk on my dress, 'cause…"

"Ah, ah, no," she lifted her hands to her ears, consequently forgetting that she had been using one to hold on to the sheet that was covering the top half of her torso. As she realized what she had done--as she watched the sheet falling, seeming to be in slow motion, she closed her eyes, knowing that she could add yet another thing to her list of humiliating moments. However, when she expected to hear some kind of joke about her figure, she heard absolutely nothing. Slowly, she opened one eye, and then opened them both to see Sadie standing in front of her, holding up the sheet wide enough to hide her bare chest, which shocked her a bit, "Uh…thanks."

Sadie waved her hands slightly with the sheet in her hand, motioning for Lara to take it, "No problem," she said, nonchalantly, as the sheet was taken from her hands, "Besides, I can't get a full view of you before my brother," after laughing slightly, she shrugged as she sat back down, "Oh, wait, I already have."

Lara grabbed the dress off the bed, and went into the closet, closing the door behind her, "Only because you tend to barge in when people are taking a shower," she said, loud enough for the girl to hear her.

"I've never got any complaints," she laughed

"Well, I'm complaining," she put the dress on the best she could, groaning when she was unable to zip it up all the way, 'Damn it, I should have taken that yoga class…though, I don't think they teach you how to dislocate your shoulder…' After many more tries, she simply rolled her eyes, and admitted to herself that she would need help to get it fully zipped, so, reluctantly, she exited the closet, rolling her eyes once again, seeing the expression on her roommates face, "Can you zip the rest?"

She stood up, "What, you had a hard time dislocating your shoulder?" she questioned. Lara gave her a questioning look, "Years of being your roommate, back when I used to stick around, gives me enough knowledge to know your frustrated groan, and since I also know this dress very well, since it's mine," she added, in a flat tone, "It's obvious to me that you were trying to zip it by yourself," grabbing the end of the zipper, she zipped it up quickly, and then sat back down, "There….it almost look as good on you as it does on me--Not quite though."

"Sorry, the word skank isn't exactly written across my forehead," she glared.

"No, it's stamped onto your ass. Somewhere most people wouldn't see it….if they weren't your roommate," relaxing a little, she leaned back on the bed, supporting her self on her forearms, "Seriously though, if you're having to play dress up for Grahamy, I think you need to consider new options. Everyone here knows you aren't the sexual type."

"Oh, please," she grabbed the shoes that she had chose--also Sadie's--and sat down next to the other teen, not even minding her own paper crumbling beneath her, "And it's not like everyone doesn't know that you're not as 'active' as you claim to be. Why anyone would want to keep an image of being the nowhere-to-be-seen tramp on campus is beyond me, when obviously, you don't even get around that much."

"And how would you know this exactly?" Sadie questioned, "You yourself love to point out just how much I'm gone. How do you know I'm not out there bangin everthing insight--Getting off on the nearest pole--Digging my--"

"I get it--" her eyes went wide in horror, "The images aren't necessary…or pleasant. But," after getting the shoes on, and making sure she had strapped them correctly, she stood up slowly, trying not to fall over, "just like years of being roommates gives you some--very minimal I might add--knowledge in terms of me…I know things about you. And you," she lost her balance for a moment, and then caught it again, "You--You are not as slutty as…you…look," catching her balance completely, she smiled, proud of her achievement, "Now, how do I look?" she asked.

Sadie shrugged, "Good enough, I guess," she sat up, "The question is--Can you walk in them?" as Lara began to turn to walk, she couldn't help but wait for what she knew was going to happen, and after a few steps, surely enough, Lara was lying flat on the ground, landing with a big 'humph', "Hmm," Sadie laughed, "That would be a big no."

-- TO BE CONTINUED --


	5. Night of Day Two Attempt 2 Take Two

Chapter Three: Night of Day Two--Attempt #2…Take Two

Kennedy stood looking out the window, all her things in position, aimed directly at the seen podium at the head of the room full of people. Really, she hadn't thought it's be so many people, but the fact that there were, really wasn't going to be a problem. It just meant that she'd have to take off a little bit faster, considering the speed of--most likely--every girl in that hotel. There was no question in her mind that it would take long for one of them to notice what direction the bullet would have come from.

"By that time," she thought aloud, still staring at her target area, "I'll be long--" suddenly, the sound of the song 'Rebel Rebel' by David Bowie, was heard in the room, first confusing her, then making her worry slightly. Eventually, after searching every corner of her room, she realized that, of all things, her cell phone was ringing--Flashing Daphne's name in the process, "What the--" she answered it, frustrated by the timing of it all, "Is there a reason why rock music from the seventies has been invading my cell, lately? Oh, wait, that would be your fault--Rebel Rebel, my ass."

"I'm sorry, did I catch you at a bad time? 'Cause there's this awesome thing where you can ignore calls, when you're busy--Or just grumpy in general. You should try it out sometime," they were both silent for a moment, "Anyways, you gonna be late coming home, tonight?"

Rolling her eyes, Kennedy went and sat by the window, "Yes Mom, I'm going to be late," she teased. Then, she looked across to the hotel, again, "Hopefully not too late, but I'm not sure. Why?" she asked.

"Just wondering, is all. Can't a girl wonder?"

"Not when the girl is you," the brunette answered.

There was a muffled sound for a minute, and sounds of lots of moving, before Daphne spoke again, "Well, I have a job interview in the morning, and I prefer not to be woken up at three in the morning, only to find myself unable to go back to sleep, as you knock things over in the kitchen."

"I'm not out drinking," she said, while taking a look around the room. She put her phone on speaker, and sat it beside her, as she looked through the scope of her gun, knowing that she needed to be locked in position for when the time finally came to pull the trigger, "So, where's the job interview? It's not some fast food chain, is it, 'cause that's not going to pay your half of the rent--Not like I do, anyways," she slid her hand up to the trigger, "It better be a good job, or there's no point."

"For your information," she cleared her throat, "It's at some big business that is opening up tomorrow. Somewhere downtown, or something--The only empty building that doesn't look like it's dying."

Kennedy looked over to the building her friend was talking about, having just been in it, earlier, "I know the place," she said, in a slight annoyance, as she thought of the fact that she had been in the wrong building, "What kind of company are they?" she asked.

"Don't know," Daphne said, in such a tone that a shrug could almost be heard, "I just get this email saying that someone is interested in hiring me at the new location of their business--I responded to it, and now I'm all with the interviewing in the morning."

"And, the pay?" she asked, though the truth was that she didn't mind paying her best friends half of the rent, especially considering that living with a roommate made her look more normal--Which was definitely a good, "Are they paying you the right amount for the position? What is the position?"

"Gosh, what's with the twenty questions?" she huffed, "I don't know anything about a position, but it does say that I'll be well compensated for--"

Kennedy looked towards her phone, "Compensated…" she said, slowly, "Hey Daph," she said, noticing more movement in the room she should have been staring at, "I'll call you back in a few--Don't set this interview in stone, yet."

"What, why wouldn't I--" the voice stopped suddenly.

"Sorry, duty calls…"

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"Everything will be fine," Buffy assured, "Just go up there, say what's on that little piece of paper, and then you're done," she smiled, "Just try not to throw up in the process, or anything, 'cause that would be…bad."

"Oh, really? Here I was thinking that it would be…good," Willow said, in a panic. She looked around at all the people in the room, which was usually used for parties at the hotel, 'There's a lot of people, Buffy. Too many people, I can't do this. What if they boo me? What if my speech is so horrible that they boo me, and throw tomatoes, and--"

"Dump a bucket of pigs blood on you," she cleared her throat, "Sorry, watched that last night. Will, that's not going to happen," she rubbed her friend's shoulders, "I'll make sure that no one has tomatoes," seeing the glare she was receiving, she couldn't help but laugh at the redhead. She had been going on and on the whole night, saying that she couldn't do it, and then she could, but then she couldn't, but she would--Back and forth all night, and it was getting to be more of a comical thing in Buffy's eyes, than something that should come with some sort of best friend comfort, "Really, everything will be fine. Everyone in this room loves you, okay?" Willow nodded at her words, and she continued, "Now, you just take a few deep breaths, and relax. Faith has to talk first, anyways."

"Great," she rolled her eyes, "They'll just like what she says and then have to deal with the boringness of my speech. Who's idea was it for her to go first? It wasn't my idea."

"All she's doing is an intro for you," Buffy looked around the room, trying to spot a certain slayer, "That is, if she gets here," no one had seen Faith all night, and that was beginning to worry Buffy--In a 'she's ruining everything' kind of way, "What is up with her, lately? She's all nowhere to be seen," she looked her friend in the eyes, "Where was she this morning?" she asked.

Willow shook her head, "Nope, uh uh, you're not putting me in the middle of this--Whatever it is that you two have got going…for some strange reason."

"Come on, Will, you're supposed to be on my side, here. I'm being all comforting…sorta, so why can't you just, you know, slip me a little bit of information," she said, with slit eyes, "I could possibly make this whole speech thing disappear."

"And…" she leaned away from her friend, slightly, "now you're scaring me," rolling her eyes, she started to walk away, "I swear the two of you are obsessed with each other's personal lives."

Buffy frowned, "I am not obsessed with, Faith."

The witch's brows rose, "I didn't say you were. I said personal lives…" she continued to walk, "Now, go away, you're making me all…worse. Ask Dawn where Faith is, 'cause I'm not saying a word."

"But you do have something to tell?" the blonde asked, raising her voice, so her friend could hear her as she walked away, "Willow--" sighing, she looked down, "Why isn't anyone on my side, these days?" she looked towards her sister, and then headed in her direction, "Dawn, you remember that sweater of mine that you borrowed…you know, the one you ruined?--Don't you walk away from me."

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Lara stood in the elevator alone, which just pointed out the fact that she was late, even more. She kept making herself take deep breaths, not only because the top of the dress she was wearing was slightly suffocating, but also to calm her nerves, which were definitely on overload. For a good reason, she knew, but it still didn't bode well for her to show up acting like a spaz…more of a spaz. She had went over it all in her head multiple times, while she was slightly lost in the city--Go to the party, socialize at the party, don't drink any of the punch at the party, stand near stage at the party, and tackle--The tackling was the most important part--then, pretend to be drunk off the punch at the party, which you yourself will spike when you get to the party. The plan was fall proof--Well, no, so many things could go wrong, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Nope, not at all. Everything was going to be perfect--Minus the someone getting shot at part.

Seeing that the elevator was slowing, before she made it to the right floor, Lara sighed in frustration, "Why? Why now? Did some drunken idiot stop at the wrong floor? Has the whole universe turned against me?" she took a deep breath, "Why can't I breath in this dress?" as the elevator doors opened, she found herself even more unable to breath, upon who she saw--

"Lara," Sadie said, still in her attire from earlier, stepping into the elevator. Once she was inside, and the doors were closed, she pushed the button to make the elevator stop.

"Oh, please don't do that," she said, suddenly feeling a bit queasy, not only at the thought of being even later to the 'get together', but also at being in a small space that wasn't going anywhere.

Sadie walked over to the other teen, standing directly in front of her, "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, in shock, "You said that you were going out with Graham."

She shook her head, "No, you assumed that I was going out with Graham because that's what you do--You assume, and then you're all 'grr' when you find out you're wrong," she paused, "What are you doing here? That's the real question. Some old geezer call you up looking for a good time?" mentally, she slapped herself in the back of the head, not knowing where that had come from.

Sadie, however, just put her hands on her hip, and lifted her brows, as an odd grin appeared across her face, "Wouldn't you like to know," she said, with some obvious anger.

"Actually…not so much," she said, honestly, "Now, can you please unstop the elevator before I puke and then pass out," she watched as her roommate rolled her eyes, and then walked over to unstop the elevator, hesitating as she looked at what floor was selected, "Which one you headed for?" Lara asked.

"Doesn't matter," Sadie answered, as she backed to stand next to Lara. After a moment, she gave her an odd look, "Why are you breathing like that?"

"Because this dress is too tight in this area," she said, gesturing over her entire torso.

"It's not like you've got much in that area," the teen laughed, "Not only are you not good with small spaces, you're not good with tight clothing either. Not in the chest area, anyways. You could always just go home instead of doing whatever it is that you're doing here," the elevator stopped, and with a ding, the doors opened, "You first," she said, with a fake smile.

"No, you," Lara gestured.

"No, I think you should--"

"Well, I insist that you--" the doors closed, "Great, just great. Now, look at what you've done."

Sadie slowly reached to the 'doors open' button, making fun of her roommate, "Voila," she said, as the doors open, "Gosh, you're paranoid as hell. Let's just get off together…" she cocked her head to the side, "Wow, that did not come out right--Let's go, before you start freaking out."

As they stepped off the elevator, keeping straight towards two large doors as they did, the both of them kept looking over at each other, waiting to hear 'Oh, this is the wrong floor' or, 'Oh, I think I'm supposed to go this way' but neither of them said a word. Both of them just kept walking towards the doors, slowing as they did, just to be sure that they were both going to the same place.

"Are you going in there?" Lara asked.

"Are you?" Sadie asked, in response.

Lara shook her head, "Not really having time for the question game. I'm running late."

"So am I," she said with a nod, "Let's go in then--See if you're in the right place."

With a huff, Lara walked over to the door, and pulled one of them open, "Let's see if you're in the right place," she said, letting the other teen enter first. Once they were both inside, they looked around a bit, taking in the table covered with white tablecloths, with a few scattered candles about, and lots of food…and people, which made Lara groan.

"Why do they always invite…everyone?" Sadie sighed.

Lara nodded for a moment, and then frowned, "Everyone? Invite? They? Who they? Which they?" she asked, starting to panic.

Just as Sadie was about to start questioning Lara, Dawn approached them, with a smile on her face, "Lara, you made it. Willow told me that she invited you, and Kennedy, but we weren't sure that you were going to make it, considering her whole passing out suddenly thing, at the club."

Sadie looked over at Lara, with a frown, obviously thinking something of what was being said, making Lara feel even more nervous than before, "Yeah…" was all that she was able to say.

"And Sadie," Dawn folded her arms, "Wasn't expecting you to show up."

"Nah, but you were hoping I would," she smiled.

Dawn looked between the two of them, "Do you two know each other?"

"Nope," Sadie answered, before Lara could, "Never met her, but considering our little trip in the elevator, I think I know her as well as I need to," she looked around a bit, "I'm gonna go look for Faith."

"She has yet to show," Dawn said, as Sadie started to walk away.

The teen shook her head, "She's here, you just don't know where to look."

Dawn rolled her eyes, and then looked back to Lara, "Punch?"

-- TO BE CONTINUED --


End file.
